Arthur approached the massive, monstrous form of Deliora, the great demon still encased within the shimmering, magical ice.
He disregarded the meager reward points and focused entirely on the conceptual challenge: the life force of Ur bound within the Ice-Shell.
Arthur closed his eyes, his immense MAG: EX-9999 focused with absolute precision.
He used his Reality Blending to perform an intricate, multi-layered operation.
He wasn't simply melting the ice; he was manipulating the conceptual time of the Ice-Shell magic itself.
First, he reversed the binding—pulling Ur's fragmented soul-essence out of the ice, not through brute force, but by conceptually unraveling the moment of her sacrifice.
Second, he used the immense ambient magical energy of the environment, amplified and refined by his Magicules Breeder Reactor, to instantly construct a new, stable physical body for her.
He guided the swirling vapor and refined magic back into a familiar human form.
The process was difficult—a surgical strike on the laws of reality—but it was absolutely doable for a Cosmic True Dragon.
A wave of liquid magic shimmered and condensed, and Ur slowly, miraculously, took shape, forming from the very water and ice that had held her soul captive.
She gasped, opening her eyes with a panicked jolt, her vision blurred.
"W—What…"
Ur stammered, disoriented.
"I remember I sacrificed myself…"
She instantly registered the presence of Deliora, which was stirring, its immense, dark magic beginning to awaken.
Instinctively, she prepared to sacrifice herself again, lifting her hands to invoke the forbidden Ice Shell Magic once more.
But she stopped completely. A calm, authoritative voice cut through her panic.
"Don't bother with that thing. I will handle it."
Ur looked up and saw a young man standing beside the behemoth demon, radiating a power that felt both familiar (like the deepest ice) and utterly alien (like a star).
Then, the final, shocking act occurred.
Arthur exerted his will. He didn't use fire or an explosion.
He encased Deliora in a layer of absolute, conceptual ice, and then, using a refined version of his True Dragon God Slayer Magic, he conceptually defined the demon's entire existence as "raw magic."
Deliora was frozen in ice, then slowly, silently, it melted into nothingness.
The process was not violent; it was an erasure.
The raw magic that made up the demon was safely absorbed back into the ambient flow of the world's power.
Ur looked at the spot where the immortal demon had stood moments before, utterly perplexed.
"Who are you? And what did you do to Deliora?"
Ur asked urgently, her mentor instincts immediately overriding her shock.
She knew Deliora was immortal; there was no way this young man could have simply destroyed it.
"My name is Arthur Leywin Stark, the S-Class mage from Celestial Forge,"
Arthur replied, that slight smirk returning.
"And I just used my magic to melt it down to nothingness. It isn't dead, per se. Let's say it had become what it was made of… Mana."
Ur was butt naked, her new body formed without clothing.
Arthur, realizing the situation, casually snapped his fingers, and a simple, durable set of traveling clothes materialized around her.
"My mission here is done. Let's go,"
Arthur said, reaching out and gently taking her arm.
He then paused, glancing toward the four frozen figures of Lyon, Sherry, Yuka, and Toby.
Their conceptual ice prisons would not harm them, but they would hold them completely immobilized.
"The ice will melt soon, so they will be free,"
Arthur mused.
"Soon" means about a month, give or take. They won't die in the ice I made, but they'll have plenty of time to contemplate their arrogance and the consequences of messing with the natural order."
With the problem solved and the punishment dealt, Arthur initiated his final exit.
He grabbed the fully clothed Ur, and with another conceptual tear through space, he teleported instantly to where Erza was located.